Our family's journey to living purposefully in the present while looking eagerly to the future

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

The Voyage Home

This month is different for us. After over a year and a half in Thailand, we are planning on heading back to the US at the beginning of October. It's been a difficult decision for us, but we are sure now that we can be more effective in the US than we can be here. So this month has turned into a time of wrapping things up and saying goodbye to people and places here that have come to mean a lot to us.

Luckily the preparation for the transition has been going smoothly so far—we have found someone to take over our lease who also will be buying most of our furniture and household items. Our list of things we need to take back to the US is pretty small, and it should be no trouble getting it all packed up.

Alisha is finishing up the month with her homeschooling group, and Phil is wrapping up a few software projects that he's been working on with people around town. We have been making the rounds to the waterfalls and the restaurants around town that we have fond memories of.

And of course we are looking forward to settling back in on the other side of the Pacific. The plan is to arrive in California with Alisha's parents and get over our jetlag, then spend a couple weeks in debriefing and counseling in Denver. Phil is looking into job opportunities, and once the employment situation is finalized we will be moving back up to the Seattle area where we used to live. We're looking forward to reuniting with our friends up there.

We have certainly learned a lot from our time here and have made some friendships we will value for a long time. We hope that we can take what we have learned about the complexities of migrant and refugee issues and use it as we interact with those communities in the Seattle area.